San Joaquin Valley Toy Train Operators Inc.
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San Joaquin Valley Toy Train Operators Inc., Lionel Ambassador and home to 35 members is located in Turlock, CA.
The organization is a non-profit (501 © 3) dedicated to the furtherance of the hobby of model railroading and making it available to the public through public demonstrations and there annual train show held at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. They are an active organization, celebrating 40 years in 2014 who have taken activities to a new level with visits to the local area retirement centers where they entertain groups of up to 75 members. The members spent more than 60 days exhibiting layouts in public venues in 2014 . There annual train show is December 5 & 6 with expected vendors of more than 150 tables.
Lowe’s Train Exhibit July 18, 2015 San Joaquin Valley, California
Shown are two portable O Gauge Layouts, 4' X 8' and 4' X 6', each with a ground level loop and raised figure eight loop allowing four trains to be run at the same time. The club was at the front of the store and trains from prewar to postwar and modern were all run including a 1931 259 freight set.
San Joaquin Toy Train Operators, inc Layout field trip
5/14/16
By Warren L Kennedy, O.D.
On Saturday May 14th
2016 the members of SJTTOS inc caravanned to the homes of three of our
members to view their layouts . The
first layout we visited was that of Jim Stetson. His “O” gauge layout was in
his garage and was 19 feet by 8 feet wide. It had three levels with the main or
middle level using silver nickel Atlas track and the upper and lower levels
using Lionel tubular track. Jim used 2
Lionel ZW transformers and 1 MTH 4000 transformer for conventional train
control. Jim used 1 Lionel Z and 1
Lionel 1030 transformer for accessory power. There were 17 switches all were either Lionel,
K-Line or Atlas brand.
There were 3 different layers
of insulation between the plywood base and the track which made for quiet
running of trains.
The second layout we visited was Gene’s
Railroad Junction, which was a large room in Gene’s home. This meant carpet,
air conditioning and great lighting. There were many frame train photos on the
walls and one wall has shelves for trains not on the layout. Most of his trains
are Lionel and his buildings are plasticville.
Gene’s layout is 14 feet by
12 feet. The table is white pine which is covered with 1 inch of foam and
outdoor carpet on top of the foam. The layout has Lionel tubular track and
Lionel switches. There are three mail loops powered by a ZW Controller with 4
power packs, a ZW transformer, a KW transformer and an MTH Z4000 transformer.
The layout was started in December 2013 and finished in February 2014.
The plants are from Scenic
Express and Creative Accents. The people are from Scenic Express, Arista
Accessories and Woodland Scenic.
The track is powered via 14
gauge stranded wire and the accessories depending on their power draw either
18, 20, or 22 gauge stranded wire.
Gene has been involved with
Lionel trains for 66 years and he still owns his first two engines which are
displayed on his shelves. He had a Lionel Santa Fe F3AA and a Berkshire 2-8-4.
Finally we visited Marty
Gordon’s HO train layout
Marty writes:
My layout is 13’ by 8’. It
has 2 tracks. One is for Union Pacific trains and the other is CSX trains. My layout
is about 12 years old. I have changed it at least 10 times and that’s the fun
of it. It has two bridges, a town; a switching yard and unloading facility. It
has two tunnels in a big mountain. It’s an
all DC, HO scale layout. The locomotives are Atlas, Athearn and Bachmann. My
cars consist of Lifelike, Walther and various others.
Marty (Flash) Gordon
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**The information about the clubs is provided by them and may or may not be accurate depending on changes in membership, 501c status, etc.. Lionel is sharing their content and not validating it’s accuracy”.